Monthly Archives: March 2013

Syria’s Al Nusra Front rebel faction, allied with Al Qaeda, has more than doubled and is continuing to grow with the influx of Syrian jihadists returning from abroad. The group was the lead faction among those who recently invaded the buffer zone along the Syrian-Jordanian-Israeli border in the Golan Heights. Listed in the

North Korea declared a “state of war” with its neighboring North on Saturday, and warned both Washington and Seoul to not stir the conflict further as it will result into a nuclear war. The White House said it took the announcement “seriously” and labeled the threat as “nonconstructive”, while South Korea largely dismissed it

Egypt’s public prosecutor on Saturday ordered the arrest of popular satirist Bassem Youssef over alleged insults to Islam and to President Mohamed Mursi, state news agency MENA reported. Judicial sources told AFP that several complaints had been filed against Youssef, whose razor-sharp humor -- delivered on his weekly television program Albernameg (The Show) --

Egypt will receive payment facilities from American and European suppliers of wheat, an Egyptian newspaper on Saturday quoted minister of supplies Bassem Ouda as saying, as the world’s biggest wheat importer struggles to pay for imports. Two years of turmoil since the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak has badly hit an economy starved of

Turkey exported almost $120million worth of gold to Iran in February, data showed, suggesting the two countries’ trade of gold for natural gas has resumed despite tighter U.S. sanctions, though at levels below last year’s peaks. U.S. officials have sought to prevent Turkish gold exports from providing a financial lifeline to Tehran, which has

Power cuts in Egypt are due to a lack of funds to buy fuel for power stations, the oil ministry said on Thursday, another sign that a government funding crunch is disrupting the wider economy. Egypt has endured two years of political instability since the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak and is trying to

An Iraqi official says Baghdad has rejected a request from Egypt for a $4 billion bond to be deposited in Egypt’s central bank to bolster its faltering economy. The official said on Friday that it’s "too risky" to deposit such a large sum in Egypt but that talks are continuing for a smaller amount.

During the last hours of their agony in 1453, the Christian faithful took refuge within the hallowed walls of the Hagia Sophia. The Muslims killed the weak and the elderly and reduced the others to slavery. When the carnage came to an end, Sultan Mehmed II ordered an Islamic scholar to declare that there was

While the European Union drags its feet on the issue, the Bahraini parliament voted Tuesday to label the Lebanon-based Hizbullah group a terrorist organization. Hizbullah was accused by Bahrain of seeking to overthrow its government in 2011. In a report submitted to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the ruling Khalifa family maintained Hizbullah trained

Bulgaria has more evidence that Hizbullah was behind the terror attack at Burgas last year, and it will soon present that evidence to the world, Bulgarian Prime Minister Marin Raikov said Wednesday. A report by Reuters quoted Raikov as saying that Bulgaria “will continue the investigation. We will continue to work on this very seriously,